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Nikon D4. The new king with uncompressed HDMI output.





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    The D4 can record 1080p Full HD video at 30/25 or 24p in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC format with broadcast quality full of fine tones and natural colors. Located next to the shutter-release button, the dedicated recording start button makes operation intuitive and easy to access. Maximum recording time for a single clip is 29 min. 59 s. Thanks to Nikon's latest image-processing algorithms, the D4's video ensures a smooth look with fewer "jaggies" and less moiré while maintaining sharp edges, even in dark conditions, by using noise-reduction technology designed specifically for video. With the D4, Full HD video is at your disposal in three formats: FX-based, DX-based or 1,920 x 1,080 crop movie format. The FX-based format renders exquisitely shallow depth of field (DOF) as well as wide-angle shooting. It ensures beautiful movies even at high ISO sensitivity with minimal noise. When a DX lens is attached, DX-based format is automatically selected. This format is useful for creating an extension to the focal length of an existing lens. For an even stronger telephoto effect, the 1,920 x 1,080 crop format brings an approx. 2.7x crop of the picture angle while delivering outstanding video quality and detail, obtaining 1080p Full HD. Versatility like this lets you explore different moods with the large and comprehensive selection of NIKKOR lenses.

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    Just saw these latest rumors...

    http://nikonrumors.com/2011/12/11/nikon-d4-specs-16-2mp-11-fps-102400-native-iso-xqd-memory-card.aspx/

    Maybe 2012 will be the year of uncompressed DSLR video...?

    One can only hope... With Nikon's dynamic range and organic high-ISO... a D4 with a recorder could be an Alexa killer for 1/10th the price and certainly send the C300 back to the drawing board.

    Perhaps there's also still time to give the 1Dx uncompressed output to compete... ?


  • 208 Replies sorted by
  • Sounds great, love Nikon, proud owner of D3s and D5100!
  • It could only be an Alexa or even C300 killer if it's video actually resolves upward of 1000 TVI, has some form of LOG gamma, [virtually] no rolling shutter, no aliasing, no moire, *clean* hdmi out, and it's hdmi output is greater than 4:2:0 8-bit uncompressed.

    Maybe it will, who knows? But given Nikon's experience with video, I doubt it.
  • Well, yea obviously, clean moire-free video is now the standard in DSLRs (ie. GH2 and alleged 1Dx) so it would have to have that for sure as well as a true 1080p image. But the rumor did say "uncompressed" HDMI... so 8 or 10 bit is the real question now.

    As far as the rolling shutter... I think it's just a given that if it's actually going to be problem, then your video is probably going to be un-watchable anyways. IMO, rolling shutter is by far the worst DSLR scapegoat excuse ever used...
  • I seriously doubt that it will be 10bit... but we can hope... good thing that I have Nikon Glass... :-P

    Then again-- the D4 will be about 8k? + HDMI recorder 9-10k... Sheesh!
  • bwhitz IMO, rolling shutter is by far the worst DSLR scapegoat excuse ever used...

    Absolutely, people used to throw their cameras around willy nilly, now they have been forced to be more careful when shooting with cmos based cameras.
  • I still get moire sometimes with my GH2. It's not often, like with Canon DSLR's, but it does certainly happen enough that I must constantly stay very aware of fine patterns that are in my frame. Completely moire-free video is far from standard in any DSLR's. And as far as the 1Dx goes, I still have to quote Canon's own words: "Greatly reduced moire and aliasing artifacts." The question we won't be able to answer until it arrives is, how much has it been reduced? 50%? 90%? 33%? I don't know, but for projects that can't afford a mistake, I'd wouldn't hedge my bet.

    I guess I like to err on the side of conservative when it comes to calling things "X"-killer. In the vast majority of cases, the new product doesn't actually kill anything. It just becomes another option.
  • Even my eyes have moire, when i look at my curtain.
  • Yeah I get aliasing artefacts looking at powerlines going by the train hanging in front of sharp horizontal lines of metallic window shades against black tinted windows of a buidling or looking down a long escalator with all them lines against each other.

    Ive only seen moire on preview playback on my GH2.. when i zoom in the video image, it's not there. I'm pretty happy with it.

    Jello sucks for hand held. And noticeable on 24mm shooting sideways out of a car on a highway on monopod.. slanted.. annoying, high speed side ways motion seems to be a killer, but I'd hardly ever shoot high speed sideways motion.

    Jello is #1 on my hit list to eliminate.
  • @Athiril
    Try ETC mode -- it gets rid of a lot of it.

  • @bwhitz
    The alexa latitude makes a lot of difference with todays any dslr camera, I think that will be one of the main difference

    @Rambo
    9-10k for an hdmi recorder ? isn't ninja a <1k recorder in prores422 ?<br />
  • @brianluce I dont have ETC mode on my eyes.

    As I said on the GH2 I only see moire/aliasing on preview playback, if i zoom in on the recorded video or get it onto the pc it's not there.
  • @Athiril
    Never heard of anyone getting jellovision on their eyes...
  • @bwhitz
    Quote: "....a D4 with a recorder could be an Alexa killer for 1/10th the price and certainly send the C300 back to the drawing board. "

    I heard Apple dumped firewire on Macbook pro laptops because someone figured an HdMI to 4 wire converter ...and their pals at NikonCanon were scared of it. So, Who knows?

  • I wish people would pay attention.

    "Yeah I get aliasing artefacts looking at powerlines going by the train hanging in front of sharp horizontal lines of metallic window shades against black tinted windows of a buidling or looking down a long escalator with all them lines against each other."
  • I told you ETC helps eliminate jellovision, which you say is your #1 problem. Perhaps you think jellovision and aliasing are the same.
    Any way, it's poor form to make snarky comments to people merely trying to help you out with a simple suggestion. Good luck!
  • @bubba FW800 is still on the Macbook pros. Thunderbolt was added.
  • Plus, you can have FW800 with any Thunderbolt machine on an Apple Thunderbolt 27" display.
  • @JanH
    Sorry, fw400!
  • there is a podcast on nikonrumors where the motorbike rider of the Nikon adds talks about the big big hooting, it is as if Nikon is putting a lot of emphasis on the video side.
  • @abwitz
    @danyyyel
    ...getting back to topic. You may be on to something.
    Nikon has the least to loose and the most to gain.
    Plus, the J1 image size would be the easiest to accomplish this with ...at reasonable framerates.
  • Nikonrumors has released it latest claim to be 100% sure about the Nikon D4 on the 6 January. He has again said that the hdmi will be uncompressed and that you will have B-frames with h.264. So I am thinking that the internal codec will be avchd type one. I don't have a big hope that we will have 10 bit. We could get 422 through the hdmi but I don't think 422. For now it seems a bit standard fare in terms of internal codec. With the ntool perhaps it could be hack to some very high bitrate because the underlying hardware will be much more powerful than the gh2.

    I will be a bit disapointed if it does not have 10 bit, but it will still have some other very good attribute as the low light, etc (It seems to be an Iso monster with native iso range from 100 to 102000). Now it is out of my budget but these tech should migrate to the lower end market.
  • 10-bit's not any sort of big deal to me, and I work with VFX etc.

    A clean 4:2:2 8-bit is enough to push to DPX and do whatever we want with it.

    My issue with this is Nikon in general, or being locked into a freakin' Nikon mount camera. That would SUCK.
  • @danyyyel
    The H.264 codec in the Nikon D5100 and D7000 already uses B-frames (GOP-12: IBBPBBPBBPBB) in an MP4 container. Nikon does not subscribe to AVCHD, that is a Sony/Panasonic brand name. Nikon's H.264 codec's bitrate tops out at about 20Mbps, which sounds very low, but it produces macroblock quality comparable to the GH2's unhacked AVCHD encoder. I suspect Nikon's H.264 encoder uses hardware acceleration for motion vector calculations to make its real-time performance more consistent and efficient than the GH2's software encoder. The GH2 has to juggle everything in software, and that makes it susceptible to transient processing overloads.
  • GH2 owners don't need to worry about buyer's remorse, the street price is rumored to be $6,000.
  • $6k !

    LOL

    Did I just hear someone say, never-mind?